A running list of Trump’s many attacks on the press.
Donald Trump has pledged to defend the Constitution — even an article that doesn’t exist — but he can’t seem to lay off that pesky First Amendment.
Trump has mocked the First Amendment’s right to freedom of religion by calling for a ban on Muslims from entering the country and criticized those who believe in the freedom of speech as “foolish people.” He has also endorsed attacks on protesters and the imprisonment of people who burn the flag.
And he has made it very clear that he doesn’t stand for the freedom of the press. As a presidential candidate, Trump told supporters he would “open up our libel laws” to sue journalists. “We’re going to have people sue you like you’ve never got sued before,” he promised.
Trump the candidate also blacklisted reporters and entire news outlets from campaign events, referred to journalists as “scum” and “slime,” and mocked a reporter for having a disability. He vowed to sue women who reported incidents of sexual harassment and assault, along with the outlets that covered their accounts, and threatened a lawsuit against a Hispanic journalist group for calling out his bigoted remarks.
"I would never kill them but I do hate them,” he said of reporters. “And some of them are such lying, disgusting people.”
This onslaught didn’t stop once Trump assumed the presidency. From the most powerful perch on the planet, he has continued to wage attacks on the free press, further revealing his authoritarian impulses and disdain for the First Amendment.
Below we provide a running list of the attacks that the president has made on the press since assuming office. We’ll keep this list updated since, unfortunately, we don’t expect them to stop.
Trump has:
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Said it is “frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write” in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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Threatened to cancel the broadcast licenses of media companies that offer negative coverage of him.
- Had the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, call on ESPN to fire Jemele Hill for criticizing him.
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Tweeted mocking images of him wrestling a CNN reporter and his campaign hitting a CNN reporter with a train.
- Overseen a Justice Department review of policies for subpoenaing media organizations in an effort to crack down on both whistleblowers and journalists.
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Pledged to “fight the #FakeNews” with a Polish leader hostile to press freedom.
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Attacked reporters while speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has fostered a climate of violence against journalists.
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Said that his mission to “drain the swamp” begins “with the Fake News!”
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Reportedly asked then-FBI Director James Comey to jail reporters who publish classified information.
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Tasked his former chief of staff with looking into changing the country’s libel laws.
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Explored the prosecution of WikiLeaks for publishing CIA and State Department materials.
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Labeled the “fake news” media “the enemy of the people.”
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Accused the media of lying about his “very nice” conversation with the Australian prime minister. Ultimately, a leaked transcript of the call showed it was Trump who was lying.
- Urged someone to buy the New York Times to “either run it correctly or let it fold.”
While Trump tries to portray journalists at the “enemies” of Americans, it’s his attacks on the press that amount to an assault on the cornerstone of American democracy: the First Amendment.